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May 23, 2013

WorleyParsons awarded EPCM contract for a methanol plant in Texas

Gerald Ondrey

WorleyParsons Ltd. (North Sydney, Australia; www.worleyparsons.com) has signed a contract for the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) with Celanese Corp. (Dallas, Tex.; www.celanese.com) for the development of the Celanese Methanol project in Clear Lake, Texas. The estimated revenue to WorleyParsons from this EPCM agreement is $86 million.

The methanol project is a 50:50 joint-venture of Celanese and Mitsui & Co. (Tokyo, Japan; www.mitsui.com), announced May 15, for the production of methanol at Celanese's integrated chemical plant in Clear Lake.

The planned methanol unit will utilize abundant, low-cost natural gas in the U.S. Gulf Coast region as a feedstock and will benefit from the existing infrastructure at Celanese's Clear Lake facility. As a result, the total shared capital and expense investment in the facility is estimated to be approximately $800 million. Celanese's portion of the investment is estimated to be approximately $300 million, in addition to the previously invested assets at the Celanese Clear Lake facility. The planned methanol facility will have a capacity of 1.3 million ton/yr and is expected to begin operations in mid-2015.